In 2003, along with filmmaker Thomas F. Lennon, Yang founded the Chang Ai Media Project to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in China. Since then, its documentaries and public service announcements have been seen by hundreds of millions of Chinese viewers. Lennon and Yang made a trilogy of short documentary films about modern China, including The Blood of Yingzhou District,Tongzhi in Love (2008) and The Warriors of Qiugang, which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2011.

Yang relocated to Beijing in 2004 and lives in Hong Kong now. She was appointed by the University of Hong Kong as Hung Leung Hau Ling Distinguished Fellow in Humanities in 2013.[1] Her latest documentary My Voice, My Life[1] 《争氣》is one of a handful documentary films that has gotten wide theatrical distribution in Hong Kong.